Oracle strikes friendly deal for PeopleSoft at US$26.50 a share

After 18 months of conflict, a friendly merger deal has been struck between Oracle Corp. and PeopleSoft Inc. after the former raised its "final" offer by 10 per cent. Oracle, the world's second-largest software maker, said it will pay about $10.3 billion for smaller business software rival PeopleSoft (all figures in U.S. dollars). The offer is worth $26.50 a share, up from the final offer of $24 a share included in Oracle's hostile bid that expired late last month.

"This merger works because we will have more customers, which increases our ability to invest more in applications development and support," Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said in a statement. About 60 per cent of PeopleSoft's shareholders had tendered to Oracle's hostile bid of $24 a share by last month's deadline, but the company's board of directors remained stubbornly opposed on the grounds PeopleSoft was still being undervalued. The new offer, which as the support of PeopleSoft's board, is expected to close early in the New Year.

This is a planned initiative from Oracle to keeps its high in the corporate market. Infosys has come up with its own "Finacle" Database System, so wat would be Oracles move to subsides its local competitors. IT Majors in India like Wipro are moving their Databases from "Oracle to Finacle" is a real question in my mind.